Stokes Croft is the name of a road and an area in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, England. The road forms part of the A38

A38

A38 or A-38 may refer to:* A38 , a fermented dairy product sold in Denmark* A38 , a party boat on the Danube in Budapest, Hungary* A38 motorway * A38 road * Bundesautobahn 38, an autobahn in Germany...

 that leads north from the city centre, before it takes the names Cheltenham Road and then Gloucester Road

Gloucester Road, Bristol

Gloucester Road, is a part of the A38 in north Bristol that runs through the suburbs of St. Andrews, Bishopston and Horfield. It was originally called Horfield Road....

. It is within the districts of Kingsdown and St Paul's

St Pauls, Bristol

St Pauls is an inner suburb of Bristol, England, situated just north east of the city centre and west of the M32. It is bounded by the A38, the B4051 and the A4032 roads...

 and comes under the BS1 postcode.

The name Stokes Croft has come to refer to an area around the road as an informal district encompassing Jamaica Street, the junction of Picton Street and Ashley Road, and the southern part of Cheltenham Road. The area is a centre of art, music and independent shops in Bristol, with clubs such as the Croft, Lakota and Blue Mountain; the nearby music college BIMM Bristol on King Square; and numerous pieces of graffiti art. The area’s character has given rise to a group of activists and artists calling themselves The People's Republic of Stokes Croft

People's Republic of Stokes Croft

The People's Republic of Stokes Croft , launched 22 September 2007 by founding member and current chairman Chris Chalkley, is a community organisation based in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol....

 (PRSC), who are seeking to revitalise the area through community action and public art.

It takes its name from John Stokes

John Stokes

John Stokes may refer to:*John William Stokes , Australian administrator*John Stokes , Principal of Queen's College, Hong Kong, buried in Wolvercote Cemetery*John Heydon Stokes , British Conservative MP 1970–1992...

, a medieval inhabitant of Bristol who was mayor of the city in the late 14th century.

The abandoned building still known as Perry’s Carriage Works

Carriage Works, Bristol

The Carriage Works are in Stokes Croft, Bristol, England.It was built in 1862 by Edward William Godwin. The ground-floor arches were originally open for access by John Perry and Sons' carriages....

 was built in 1850 and has been designated by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 as a grade II* listed building. Slightly later, in 1861, the City Road Baptist Church

City Road Baptist Church, Bristol

The City Road Baptist Church is a baptist church on Upper York Street, Stokes Croft in Bristol, England.It was built in 1861 by the Gloucester architects James Medland and Alfred William Maberly....

 was built.

Today the area is notorious for derelict housing.

In 2006 a Heritage Lottery Fund

Heritage Lottery Fund

The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...

 grant was obtained by Bristol City Council to help overturn the decline in economic activity and environmental quality and a rise in social problems seen in the area since the 1970s.

At the junction of Stokes Croft and Jamaica Street is a large mural,"The Mild Mild West", painted some time in the 1990s by Banksy

Banksy

Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...

. It depicts a teddybear lobbing a Molotov cocktail

Molotov cocktail

The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...

 at three riot police. In 2007 the mural was voted Alternative Landmark of Bristol.

The landscape is much changed over the past few years, with many more students moving in and a new wave of young media professionals frequenting the bars and coffe shops this road is starting to see a new lease of life.

Major building work has taken place recently and this part of Bristol is now a popular and exciting place to visit.

The Stokes Croft Tesco Riot, April 2011

Despite a long campaign against the opening of a new 'Tesco Express' store at 138-142 Cheltenham Road spearheaded by the group, 'No Tesco In Stokes Croft', the new store opened on 15 April 2011. Tesco were well aware that the store was likely to be the focus of protests and put in place additional security measures to defend it.

Various protests took place outside and inside the store during the seven days after its low-key opening. Although almost all were peaceful; such as attempts to use monopoly money to pay for goods, a small minority chose to throw paint and urinate on the shopfront.

On 21 April the police evicted squatters from a property opposite the store (known as 'Telepathic Heights'). This action led to a riot involving several people and lasting for much of the night, during which the shop-front of the Tesco Store was damaged and some looting took place. Further confrontations between police and protesters occurred in the early hours of 29 April.